an Unforgettable
Sighting
Friday brought an unexpected surprise visit to a full boat of anglers in the waters off Sarasota:
Two whale sharks cruising just offshore.
E
Now, with these two sharks tagged, Hueter can learn
more about the movement patterns of the sharks that
visit the eastern Gulf of Mexico. One tag, called a Smart
Capt. Brian Marcey of BreakWater Charters had a full Position or Temperature transmitting tag, or SPOT, will
boat of anglers Friday morning about 10 miles offshore immediately begin transmitting the shark’s location
when he spotted something in the water. After he information to Hueter back in the lab.The second, called
realized he was looking at two whale sharks, he called a Pop-up Archival Transmitting tag, or PAT, will record
the shark’s movements over the next 90 days. At that
Mote.
point, it will detach from the shark, float to the surface
“I was just in the tower of my boat looking for fish, and beam its information to a satellite that will, in turn,
when I saw a disturbance in the water,” he said. “I kept beam it back to Hueter.
watching and it turned out to be two whale sharks.
With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it will be
None of my clients had ever encountered anything like
especially important to see where the sharks go, Hueter
that before. They had a blast.”
said. “Whale sharks are essentially filter feeders that
After Mote Capt. Dean Dougherty got Marcey’s call, eat plankton,” he said. “Oftentimes, that means they
he alerted Dr. Robert Hueter, director of Mote’s Center will feed at the surface where the plankton is floating.
for Shark Research. Hueter quickly pulled together a Unfortunately, right now, oil also happens to be floating
team to tag and record the sharks’ visit. One of the on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Will the sharks
tagged sharks was a mature male about 25 feet long; the stay away from the spill? We just don’t know. And
second was H